Current as of January 24, 2023
MISSION
The RQ-4 Global Hawk is a high-altitude, long-endurance, remotely piloted aircraft with an integrated sensor suite that provides global all-weather, day or night intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. Global Hawk's mission is to provide a broad spectrum of ISR collection capability to support joint combatant forces in worldwide peacetime, contingency and wartime operations. The Global Hawk provides persistent near-real-time coverage using imagery intelligence (IMINT), and moving target indicator (MTI) sensors.
FEATURES
Global Hawk is currently fielded as the Block 40. Seven Block 10 aircraft were procured, but were retired from the Air Force inventory in 2011. Block 20s were initially fielded with IMINT-only capabilities, and four Block 20s were converted to an EQ-4 communication relay configuration, carrying the Battlefield Airborne Communication Node (BACN) payload.